Thursday, March 22, 2018

March 22 On This Day in Australian History

1791 - Young Bundle/Bundall was an orphaned Aboriginal lad from the Cowpastures area of Sydney who attached himself to Cap. William Hill of the NSW Corps; when Cap. Hill went for a leisurely Sunday sail on board the Supply to Norfolk Island today Young Bundle naturally went with him.

1810 - Determined to learn them kids right a charity school was opened by Gov Macquarie in Parramatta.

1814 - Yippie Aunty Mildred, no more bush bashing in the 4WD as the road from Sydney to Liverpool was finally completed.

1819 - Macquarie, ever the man of the people, forwarded to the Colonial Office in London a petition from the 1,260 colonists who wanted, nay, demanded a new legal system that included trial by jury and the removal of restrictions on trade and distillation of spirits.
They wanted to brew up, get pissed and be judged by their own peers....I'd say they were successful!

1830 - Captain Stirling issued a Government notice advising those who were entitled to grants of land to select in the southern district. He made preparations to assist settlement, and sent several persons there from Perth within a few weeks. One farmer who accompanied the first expedition expressed the conviction that "with proper industry we shall all do better there than in the country round about Perth, for the climate is cooler and certainly the land preferable, and therefore on both accounts better adapted to the growth of vegetables and corn."

1831 - Australia's oldest school, The King's School was founded on this day and no doubt if you look closely in the dark recesses you'll find the original teachers and pupils still trying to master the 7 times table during their school day from 7am - 9pm.

1843 - At an encampment near the Merri Creek, nearly two hundred Kulin people came to join the Wurundjeri-willam in the ceremony of Tanderrum (to establish bonds of friendship between different Aboriginal clans). They had travelled from their own territories along the Delatite River to make a special visit to the land of the Wurundjeri-willam.
The newcomers carried torches or burning boughs in their hands which they used to purify the air. Water was brought to the newcomers but the locals drank first to show that there was no danger.
A young man visiting the Wurundjeri-willam for the first time stopped to drink from the Yarra without observing any preliminary ritual. He immediately lost the use of his voice.
{From ‘People of the Merri Merri, the Wurundjeri in Colonial Days’, by Isabel Ellender and Peter Christiansen, published by the Merri Creek Management Committee.
This book is available at the MCMC office and selected book stores for $19.80.}

1845 - The Moreton Bay correspondent scribbled out some observations which the Sydney Morning Herald published today,
"As past experience has shewn that whenever an assembly of blacks takes place, either for a corroboree or pullen-pullen, depredations on the white man's property are sure to ensue, owing to their hunger, from fasting the most of the time the dance or fight lasts; it certainly would be advisable for the authorities to put a stop when practicable, to these meetings, and as we have a military guard down here, the sight of a few bayonets, and an explanation through an interpreter of the unlawfulness of their meetings, would cause them to have the fear of the white man's anger in their heads."

1848 - The first two females of the species were admitted and treated at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

1859 - The Political Labour League of Victoria (please note they had their spelling thumped into them good and proper) was established in Melbourne, which was the first political party dedicated to the working class of Oz.

1880 Crikey! They let sheilas women into universities in Melbourne ! Next thing you know they'll be letting them vote and become PM of the joint!

1897 - Back in 1897 our dearly beloved *cough cough* leader-to-be, Edmund Barton (otherwise known as Toby Tosspot due to his habit of tossing back the alcohol) led a conference to discuss the proposed Constitution for the future Commonwealth of Oz.

1911 - The Lake Cargelligo Branch Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Cootamundra North Junction - Cootamundra West.

1918 - The Great Ocean Road Trust was formed at a public meeting held on this day in Colac.

1921 - Riverton Railway Station, in South Oz, was not the place to be today as a Russian chappie by the name of Koormah Tomayeff began shooting practice with his pistol using the general public as his targets; 4 men and a woman were injured in the fray with two of the men (one of them Percy Brookfield a NSW MP) dying from their wounds.
Tomayeff was not tried as he was deemed insane and shuffled off to an asylum.

1922 - Mr Box was a bit of a worry....he held a demo in Melbourne to show how to extract gas from your average bin of household rubbish. He's probably been agitating for installing piping in cows for methane gas extraction ever since...

1924 - Today in 1924 saw the defeat of Edith Cowan, our first chickybabe pollie who'd served in The Seats of Power since 1921, at the State ballot box.
She argued for child endowment and infant health centres, for the welfare of migrants, for a housewives’ union and for the legal and political rights of all women. Less popularly, she was a firm advocate of state schools introducing *gasp* sex education.
In 1923 she introduced a Women's Legal Status Bill as a private member; this passed both Houses of Parliament and was enacted, enabling women in Western Australia to practice law.

1942 - Katherine in the NT had the absolute buggery bombed out of it when 9 Japanese aircraft dumped 91 bombs on the Katherine Airfield today; the town itself had minimal damage but there was one death that of an Aboriginal man Dodger Kodjawal who had hidden near The Rocks.

1950 - Alfred Griffin was Hanged at Adelaide Gaol for the murder of Elsie Wheeler at a Hutt Street boarding house.

1971 - The last episode of "The Village Glee Club" aired on ABC Radio. The long-running series, featuring old-time music, was first broadcast in 1942 and was hosted throughout by Philip Derbyshire.